1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrically-operated parking brake device adapted to actuate wheel brakes by an electrically driving mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an electrically-operated parking brake device for automatically actuating and canceling parking brakes, which is known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 7-144623 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-9973, and which is designed so that when the shift position is shifted from a non-traveling range (an N range or a P range) to the traveling range (a D range or an R range), it is decided that a driver has an intention to start a vehicle, and the parking brake device is canceled automatically, thereby alleviating the driver's burden.
Not only when the shift position is shifted from the non-traveling range to the traveling range, but also when the shift position is shifted from one of the traveling ranges to the other traveling range, namely, from the D range to the R range or from the R range to the D range, the driver is considered to have an intention to start the vehicle. In the above-described electrically-operated parking brake device, however, the parking brake device cannot be canceled when the shift position is shifted from the one traveling range to the other traveling range. Therefore, if the driver attempts to cancel the parking brake device by a manual operation, the driver's operating burden is increased. In addition, when the parking brake device is canceled in a state in which an accelerator pedal has been depressed, there is a possibility that the vehicle is started abruptly.